I recently picked up a 2007 Mazda 3 for a very good price, thousands under bluebook from a previous owner, the car only had 2,000 miles on it. Anways, it was a model that did not include power windows or locks. I decided to add these on my own. Here’s How I did It.

Results SO Far:

I hope this thread can be the definitive guide on adding power locks and windows to your Mazda3 Base sedan.

I just got a steal of a deal on my 2007 Mazda3 ($12,500 with only 2000 miles on it.) Unfortunately it did not come with power locks/windows. I have planned on adding these features from the beginning. Little did I know it looks like it might be a lot harder than previously imagined.
I have spent the past few weeks pouring over shop manuals, parts catalogs and everything I can get my hands on. My goal is to keep everything OEM. I don’t want to hack up my car and kill its resale value.

Here are the main obstacles that to Power Windows and Locks for Base Model 3 i’s:

Wiring Harness:
The wiring harness in the biggest problem, the 3 i base model has an alternative door wiring harness to those with actual power windows and locks. obviously, if the wires arent there, you can’t use them.

Interior Paneling:
I compared some pictures of the interior of the doors on a normal 3 and then my power crippled 3. Turns out that the black paneling on the inside of the door that is used to mount things such as the power window motor is different on the manual window 3 vs the power window 3.

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Reasons to hope
There are reasons to believe that we can in fact get power windows and locks. For example, If you trace the power crippled wiring harness in the door and check the wiring harness actually inside the car, it has the exact same wires in the dash harness as 3’s with power windows and locks.

My Plan:
I have compiled a list of parts that are missing or are power window/locks specific and have at this point ordered them from a reputable sponser of this forum. I only ordered all the parts for the driver’s side door, in case it doesn’t work and I am out thousands of dollars!

Here is the list of all the parts needed to convert your mazda3 Sedan to power locks and windows:

With shipping, this already cost over 550 dollars for the Driver’s door alone, and that doesnt even include the key power lock unit or receiver in the car ($300 from mazda dealership), non-driver doors should cost substantially less than the driver’s door because there are a lot less parts. I estimate it will cost about 1,500 total to do this conversion. I am prepared to pay it because I got such a steal on my car, and if I would have bought an I touring model it would have cost me 4,000 more than what I paid.

As you can see, not cheap, but if you want an oem look and feel, this is your only option. I should be receiving these parts today, and plan on installing them this weekend. I will let you all know if it works, and will take pictures of my progress.

OK guys, very good news to report. with the new door wiring harness installed, The power window motor works! and the new lock latch part works as well! I now have Power locks on my driver side door! Power windows will work as well, just had a hiccup, since the place I got the parts from sent me the motor and power window regulator arm for the passenger side door rather than the driver’s side door. So I couldnt install it, but it absolutely works!

Here is a partial walkthrough (remember this is just for the drivers side door so far, once i get all the parts i need i will cover the other doors):(Part Numbers for what you will need are in first post above)
You will want to disconnect your negative battery terminal first.

First of all you need to remove your garnish (tweeter panel), remove the screw inside your interior door latch, remove the larger screw in the handle of the door, then pop your entire door panel off,

Now to the good part:
Now you must remove the old harness, to do this you must peel back the rubber hose that carries your wires into the car from the door, then there is a white harness connector that you must pull out, press on the four little clips in order to release it. Then pull the harness conector out and unclip the dash harness from the door harness, there is a little white clip to push in order to release the blue lever.
Here is a picture of the harness coming out from the dash, you can see that even though my car has no power windows installed from the factory, the dash harness has all the wires that cars that come with power windows and locks standard have. Just the Door harness on the base model is the problem.
Now that your door harness is unclipped from the dashboard harness, you need to remove it from under the trim of the car door in order to make room for the new harness. Be careful because it is easy to rip the trim. Slide the old harness out, you will have to pull the old one out of the place it clips into on the side of the door by force because it is not meant to ever be removed. .
Here is a shot of the Old harness being undone and the new harness being put in place.
And here is a shot of the new harness installed under the trim:
Now remove your speaker.
Now You will have to remove your window by rolling it down to about 4 inches high, then popping off the plastic bolt covers and unbolting the glass from the window regulator arm.
Here are the bolts you undo:
Now you can remove your glass panel (be careful)
Now you can unscrew the 2 regulator arm bolts and the 3 manual window gear bolts, then you can pull the regulator arm and gear out through the speaker hole. Sorry, I didnt take enough pictures of this process, I will take more pictures when I actually have the driver side motors and power regulator.
Now you can remove your entire black panel covering the inside of the door, remove pretty much all bolts you see!
Also remove the door handle and locking mechanism. Dont try to remove the metal wires until you have the handle off the door!
To remove the handle off the black trim, you need to pull up on the grey tab while using a screwdriver to release the clip holding the tab down, once the grey tab pops up you can remove the handles from the door and remove the wires carefully.
Here is the bare door pretty much now:

Now you need to remove the stock door latch in order to put the new door latch/actuator in. to do this you need to remove the three bolts from the outside of the door as so:
Those buggers were VERY TIGHT and had threadlock. Be sure you are carefull not to strip the screws!
There is also a bolt holding a rod protector that you have to unscrew.
You also need to remove the rods from the outside door handle by releasing the plastic clips then the rods should slip out.
Then you need to disconnect the old wiring harness completely, and remove it from the old actuator as well. It is funny how it is wired up to the door harness even though it seems to be completely non-functional, I imagine it just lets the car know if the door is open or not and that is all. the old latch has some pins missing where the door harness clips on, where the new latch/actuator
Then install the new latch/ actuator exactly how the old latch was installed.

Be sure to connect your wiring harness as well going through the black panel into door latch. then you can bolt the black panel back onto the door.

———Pause Power lock/window installation guide——–

Now here is where I am stuck right now, I dont have the power window regulator arm and motor for the drivers side yet, so I reinstalled my manual windows for now. If you had the right parts you would want to install the power window motor by drilling some careful holes in the black plastic (there is a template on the plastic to tell you where to drill. (looking at the manual window holes, it looks like they were drilled by human hands, not a machine, so this black panel should work just fine I believe (not 100% yet)

Once I had all the power window switches, door lock switch installed, my car now will lock and unlock by pushing the button. It will even detect when the door is open and wont lock the door if it is open! The parts place only sent me 1 trim screw (i have no idea why? i ordered 6 ) so i dont have all my switches installed tightly yet. and I still need to put the power window regulator and motor in once I have them. But it appears that everything is completely functional!!!!
Here is what I have so far… as soon as i get the power windows going, that manual handle will be gone!

I will post more once I get all the parts I need.

Things I learned:
1-be gentle with everything, there is no need to force anything at all, there is always a trick to disconnecting things, pushing the right plastic tab makes everything come apart easily, never use brute force to unhook things! (except the door latch screws! Those things were screwed on TIGHT!)
2- OEM Power windows / Locks can be installed if you use the right parts. (now i still need to get a keyless entry receiver and transmitters for my keys, but I imagine it wont be too hard.)
3- While it is possible, it is not cheap to do this! I estimate after all the parts for a full conversion (locks, windows, power mirrors, receiver transmitter) it will end up costing me over $1500 in new parts. If you could find these parts used, out of a junkyard it could be significantly cheaper.